News

US Ambassador to Czech Republic gives Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award to director of primary school that includes Roma

13.12.2015 16:59 The Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award for work in the field of human rights was given on 9 December to Marie Gottfriedová, director of the Trmice Primary School in the Ústí Region of the Czech Republic. The award has been given by the US Embassy since 2004 and was given to Ms Gottfriedová by US Ambassador Andrew Schapiro.  full story

Commentary: Is Czech society about to rid itself of anti-Gypsyist MEP Miloslav Ransdorf?

10.12.2015 4:32 I have known Miloslav Ransdorf since June 1990, when we were both elected as legislators in the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia - he for the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, I for Civic Forum (Občanské fórum). We did not see eye to eye there despite my cooperation with most of his comrades in that parliament.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani author and journalist Gejza Demeter has passed away

9.12.2015 17:28 The eminent Romani author and journalist Gejza Demeter has passed away; his funeral will be this Friday, 11 December, at 13:00 in the ceremonial hall of the cemetery in Neratovice. Jan Červenka, head of the Romani Studies Seminar at Charles University in Prague contacted news server Romea.cz on behalf of Mr Demeter's family last week with the news.  full story

Questions and answers about the 2015 migration crisis: 894 000 refugees and a divided EU

8.12.2015 21:01 When did the refugee crisis start this year?  full story

Residential hotel tenants petition Czech PM over discrimination against the impoverished

8.12.2015 18:26 "The poverty caused by the ill-considered amendments to the social laws is unlike any that has ever existed in the modern history of our country," reads a press release sent out by an informal initiative of residential hotel tenants asserting that the situation of the families with children, senior citizens and unemployed occupants of such facilities is so critical it could become a cause of social unrest. The tenants have written a petition to the Czech Prime Minister protesting against a planned amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress.  full story

Inclusive education in Canada is a reality

5.12.2015 20:29 When Harland Sanders began selling fried chicken, he was no different from anyone else. What turned his efforts into the famous KFC restaurant was a few small details, among them the secret ingredients of his spice mix.  full story

Czech teachers can invite performances from "You, Me and Them - theater as a forum against prejudice" to their schools

4.12.2015 23:25 "You, Me and Them - theater as a forum against prejudice" is a joint project of the Antikomplex organization and the Slovo 21 NGO in the Czech Republic. Three teams of actors from three different cities (Ostrava, Písek and Prague) give three different performances, the common aim of which is to "develop a culture of dialogue between the majority and minority groups in the Czech Republic and, through theater, to open up a common space leading to the awareness of each individual's own life situation, power to achieve change, and rights," according to a press release about the project.  full story

Austria's "word of the year" contest shows impact of refugee crisis

4.12.2015 22:35 "Willkommenskultur" ("the culture of welcome") has been voted Austria's 2015 "word of the year" in an online survey in which almost 34 000 people voted and an expert commission then chose what word to designate with this honor. The "misnomer of the year", on the other hand, is "special building measures", which Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner used to described a planned fence on the border with Slovenia.  full story

Advent Challenge calls on Czech society to defend itself against hatred and populists

3.12.2015 18:42 The Post Bellum organization has issued an Advent Challenge warning against the abuse of concerns over the refugee crisis, the situation in Russia, and the division of society. The text was written in response to the events that have been occurring all over Europe in recent months.  full story

Fortieth anniversary of the death of Hannah Arendt

3.12.2015 17:35 One of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, the author, philosopher and political theorist of German origin Hannah Arendt, died 40 years ago on 4 December 1975 in her New York office. Thanks to her "desire to understand", she described the roots of the success of modern dictatorships (Fascism and Communism) and the fatal failures of modern elites during those systems' rise to power in her three-volume work "The Origins of Totalitarianism".  full story

Karel Holomek: Do Roma fall into poverty from the same causes and in the same way as everyone else?

2.12.2015 19:43 In the Czech Government's regular annual report on the state of the Romani minority, the most essential message is that as many as 115 000 people today are living in impoverished ghettos and that this number, compared to 2006, has almost doubled from the 60 000 people so afflicted then, and that currently there are as many as 600 such ghettos (excluded localities) compared to an estimated 300 then. It is also casually mentioned, along with this number, that most of these people are Romani, because, after all, this is a report on the status of the Romani minority, not just a report on the state of poverty in general.  full story

Council of Europe calls on Czech Republic to protect minority languages like German and Romani more

2.12.2015 18:40 The Council of Europe (CoE) has called on the Czech Republic to increase its efforts to protect and support minority languages, especially German and Romani. The CoE's press release issued today says its Committee of Ministers (CoM) has sent many recommendations to Prague on the basis of a report by its Committee of Experts assessing the degree to which the country complies with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.  full story

Czech state prosecutor says gallows at demonstration was illegal

1.12.2015 17:11 Vladimír Heřman's decision to bring a homemade gallows inscribed with "for treason" to a July demonstration against Islam in Prague will apparently result in a trial. The state prosecutor has assessed his actions as illegal and he will most probably be prosecuted.  full story

Slovakia: Investigation of 2013 police raid on Romani settlement exonerates the officers involved

1.12.2015 16:30 News server SME.sk reported on 25 November that investigators in Slovakia have halted the prosecutions of police officers for abusing their powers, torturing people and trespassing during their raid on the Romani settlement of Moldava nad Bodvou in June 2013. The course of the investigation had been complained about previously not just by the Romani residents of the settlement and their attorney, but also by international organizations and Slovak Ombudsman Jana Dubovcová.  full story

Czech Republic: Museum of Romani Culture director says economic situation of Roma deteriorating

30.11.2015 16:57 The Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, Czech Republic, which will celebrate 25 years of existence next year, is attempting to influence both the majority society and Romani people equally. The Museum aids Romani people in finding their roots and maintaining their traditions while attempting to disseminate information and refute some of the prejudices and stereotypes held about them by others.  full story

Macedonian Police discriminated against Roma at border crossing, family to be compensated

30.11.2015 16:16 The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) has been reporting on a case in which police in Macedonia refused to let a Romani couple travel out of the country two years ago. Now the Macedonian Interior Ministry must pay compensation of approximately EUR 500 to each person harmed, according to a court verdict that has taken effect.  full story

Drahomír Radek Horváth: Criticizing the Pope's reception of Romani people is disgraceful

30.11.2015 4:27 On 26 October 2015 Pope Francis met with several thousand Roma and Sinti. "The aim of this event is to remind Romani people and the entire community that the Church is open to those who live on the outskirts of society," the Vatican communicated ahead of the meeting.  full story

Tyson Fury, boxer with Romani roots, defeats Klitschko to become world champion

30.11.2015 2:59 The boxer Tyson Fury, who is proud of his Romani roots, has just become the heavyweight champion of the world in Düsseldorf, Germany. Legendary Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko, who has not been defeated in 11 years, was defeated by Fury on points and stripped of championship belts from the WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF.  full story

French newspaper for children and teens explains the Paris attacks, asks Muslim children how they are affected

29.11.2015 0:31 For many parents it has been difficult to speak with their children about the Paris assassinations during which 130 people perished, and it has been especially difficult for Muslim families. A French daily written for children has, therefore, devoted an issue to young Muslim readers.  full story

Czech Theater of the Oppressed festival - Divufest 2015 - ends today

28.11.2015 3:59 Performances by actors' groups throughout the Czech Republic and a German partner organization, a three-day training of jokers led by experienced instructor Terry O'Leary and workshops of the Theater of the Oppressed for advanced and beginning performers from Germany (Hamze Bytyci and Christoph Leucht) are part of the second annual festival of the Theater of the Oppressed, Divufest 2015. The workshops are free of charge and interpreted into Czech.  full story